Session Thirty-Two - December 3, 2005

[Matt]

Ilvin 6, 730 TR

Clockwork and other infernal devices captivate imaginations at the breakfast table of Palliser House, and some accustomed debate ensues as to how to further pursue this line of inquiry regarding the red-headed man. Ogel, the household majordomo, proves helpful in confirming that a Temple of Save-K’nor exists within the city, not far in fact from the house itself, and Imarë agrees to inquire there regarding the possibility that ‘Koltho Valgari’ might have attempted to retail his wares to others aside from the locksmith. Bevan consents to dovetail her interest in investing further in real estate with the group’s desire to monitor Derine’s brothel by attempting to purchase, via Parqu of Aerth, a tenement close by.

The two knights and Dascomb, meanwhile, have determined to venture down to the Northhaven Wharf for the purpose of purchasing a slave girl to plant within the brothel as a spy. They retain a rowboat at an exorbitant price and are ferried by a veteran boatman amidst the dank, fetid maze of permanently-moored, creaking ships and pilings which make up the floating city below the wharf, and are taken to a Nivik of ill-repute. Ascending up the algae-scummed sides of the ship to the deck via a rope ladder, they are confronted by two grizzly bouncers flanking an enormously obese mistress of the establishment, who is seated in a chair set up by the stern of the squalid ship. Scrawny, malnourished whores loiter about the deck, vapid of face and pallid of flesh, while the flatulent madam shrilly beckons the customers forward, casting a gimlet eye upon their fine clothes and gentlemanly bearings, calculating shrewdly. Sir Ewen, disabusing her of the notion that he has come for a quick tumble, states that he wishes instead to purchase one of the girls outright. The madam hardly blanches at this, clearly shifting her calculations by orders of ten, and directs the harper to two of the “fresher” members of her stable. A thin blonde of about fifteen proves to be the more attractive of the two, and Ewen and the girl’s grotesque owner fall to a brief haggling. At one point a muffled seismic rumble sounds from beneath the skirts of the bartering madam, and while the harper persists stoically in the negotiations, his strained smile frozen upon his face, Sir Baris, whistling tunelessly, edges upwind. Ewen eventually pays eighteen shillings for the slave girl, whom he names Elsa, and the group returns to the waiting rowboat and re-ascend with relief to the city proper. Sir Baris evinces a laudable concern for the girl’s plight along the way back to the house, questioning her to little avail regarding her past, while Ewen cocks an eyebrow and reminds him of whose coin went into the transaction. Back at the Palliser House the wan, expressionless slave girl is entrusted to the ministrations of the female help, who set about getting her cleaned up and changed into a more acceptable set of spare clothing.

Imarë, meanwhile, speaks with an acolyte at the Temple of Save-K’nor, who denies that anyone has tried to sell a clockwork mechanism to the priests there, stating that the temple already owns such a contraption. Meanwhile, Bevan meets with Dolan of Queldstar, who is Parqu’s nephew by marriage. Dolan works for the Aerth family, and has been assigned to manage Bevan’s real estate transactions for his uncle. A number of properties in Sewertown are discussed, and Bevan ultimately settles upon purchasing a tenement building north of Derine’s brothel after conducting a site visit with Dolan. She hopes to net about 60d, less the Aerth commission, per month from the property down the road, but she instructs Dolan to vacate the attic tenement in the interest of making the loft available for her private use for the time being.

That evening, Ewen spends time with Elsa, explaining that her freedom has been purchased and that she now works for him, but the girl seems to take little note of this emancipation and instead insists upon calling the harper “master” and makes clear her expectation that she is to service his personal needs. Fending off her clumsy advance, Ewen attempts to focus the girl upon the nature of her proposed employment, but the group all concur that another day or two will be necessary before the girl will likely be ready for insertion into Derine of Nerele’s brothel.

Ilvin 7-9, 730 TR

Sir Baris, in his guise as Karl the Ratcatcher, gathers together some necessary provisions on the next day and relocates to the attic of Bevan’s new tenement building to begin his surveillance of Derine’s brothel. He settles in by a window affording him a view of the employee entrance, but later in the day becomes restless and spends some time in the common room of the place, losing at the card table but coming out a bit ahead in his wagering upon the cockfights, championing a high-handed eight-pound fowl with a savage set of spurs.

Ewen, coaching Elsa at length that same day, discovers that the girl knows Derine by reputation, having often heard her former madam referring to the competition as “that bitch.” Later, in the early evening, Ewen visits Arnys with his customary gift of a libation, and is told that the red-haired man has not, to the beggar’s knowledge, returned to the locksmith’s shop since last they spoke. Arnys reports having seen the locksmith leave his establishment about an hour after Imarë and Sir Baris departed the other day, however, presumably heading to the Hand & Fist which he is known to frequent. Arnys notes that very few people seem to visit the locksmith as a general rule, and he concludes that the man must do a poor business in his chosen profession.

The eighth of the month is spent by Ewen in further coaching of Elsa, and she is dispatched the following day to Derine’s brothel to seek her employment there. When she fails to return to Palliser House after a time the group concludes that she must have been hired, but Sir Baris confirms this later in the evening when he visits the brothel as ‘Karl’ and avails himself of the new girl of the house, Ewen having encouraged him to avail himself of the fullest use of her services. In the meantime, Bevan turns her idle time to thoughts of matchmaking, and forwards an invitation to Rahel of Aerth to join the party for dinner on the tenth, ostensibly with the intention of catching Rahel up on the gossip obtained at the wedding of the King of Tharda a tenday past.

Ilvin 10, 730 TR

Bevan Palliser is in high feather throughout the long day, orchestrating and overseeing with a practiced eye the household preparations for the dinner party that evening. Rahel of Aerth arrives at the appointed hour with the ubiquitous Selik of Radburn and the lovely blonde Velga in tow, and a lavish dinner in the hall of Palliser House benefits from clear signs of great preparation and forethought on the part of the capable cook. Unfortunately, the flow of conversation repeatedly falters in the wake of insufficient preparation of a different kind, and much awkward throat-clearing and fidgeting with the cutlery punctuates a series of ghastly, stillborn conversational gambits around the table. Rahel of Aerth, seeming to relish the prospect of cutting her accustomed swath through this verbal maundering, sets herself to the occasion like a satisfied cat toying cruelly with some pinioned prey. Numerous, repeated efforts to highlight Sir Ewen’s recent knighthood and his triumph in having his song played before the Royal couple are deftly parried by Rahel, who observes ironically that the harper seems to have quite the fan club among his associates. Ewen, casting a sour glance at Bevan’s end of the table, admits drolly that he is certainly fortunate in his friends, and resumes prodding his food with scant enthusiasm. The accounts of the King’s wedding and observations on the new Queen, however, are greeted with universal agreement around the table that the business of producing for the kingdom an heir is paramount and of the essence. Imarë assays a conversation on jewelry, and Rahel seems familiar with the Sindarin craftsman who fashioned the elf’s necklace, although she mentions a cousin of hers by marriage, Klarina of Queldstar, who enjoys some moderate ability in the working of silver, and they learn that this is the sister of Dolan, Bevan’s new real estate agent. Velga attempts to draw out Sir Baris, meanwhile, and the self-conscious knight learns that the young woman attends to Rahel’s administrative needs, being a personal assistant of sorts, having gained some education in her youth from an covert Peonian priestess in her village during a period when she briefly considered a career as a cleric before finding herself disinclined toward their celibate pieties. Sir Baris, tongue-tied in contemplation of the implications of this last detail, allows the conversation to lapse again.

After the dinner cloth is drawn, and prodded by significant, insistent looks from Bevan, Ewen tunes up his lute and recites some love poetry for the assembled company. Upon completion of “There to the Fountain I Would Take,” Rahel cross-examines the harper about his composition, asking mischievously who he had in mind when penning the piece, but Ewen demurs in publicly naming the lady so honored, holding her gaze briefly. Later, finding Imarë and Selik conveniently vanished from the hall, Rahel enlists the harper in escorting Velga and herself back home, and the party disperses. Significantly late the next morning, Ewen saunters back in and is confronted by the raised, expectant eyebrows of his amused companions, and Bevan Palliser smugly concludes that her little dinner party was, perhaps, a success after all.

Ilvin 11, 730 TR

Karl returns to his stakeout after a brief planning session at breakfast, while Sir Ewen and Imarë pay Boraga the embalmer a friendly visit. The odiferous little apprentice shows them in and Boraga greets them warmly, noting with little concern that business lags a bit with the winter season upon the city. He reports no unusual carvings upon the corpses in his recent care, and indicates that he never did minister to the body of the mortally wounded Slakka, whom his physician friend Tarlis had briefly attended to. Prompted by Ewen, he furnishes a brief description of Tarlis, who is short and middle-aged, well-fed and adorned with a wandering eye. When Ewen asks him to forward word of any red-haired young man who crosses his embalming table, Boraga does indicate some knowledge of an individual meeting that description who has evidently been importuning the jeweler Klarina of Queldstar, claiming to be enamored of the woman. Boraga gives the two directions to Klarina’s establishment, and Sir Ewen and Imarë decide to waste no time in calling upon her.

Klarina, it turns out, owns a large jewelry business tucked behind the metalsmith off Arren Square, with two armed guards and a team of apprentice jewelers working under her supervision. The shop displays a number of silver goblets, candlesticks, and diverse other wares. Imarë expresses an interest in purchasing some silver earrings, and Klarina persistently attempts to convince the dubious elf that a pair of large hoop earrings will “set off” her features and necklace nicely. After a period of uncertain protestation by the diminutive Imarë, Sir Ewen interjects that his friend is likely concerned at the price, and he adds in an audible aside to Imarë that she will surely be able to afford such nice earrings once she recoups her money from “that red-headed bastard.” At this, Klarina’s manner changes abruptly and she casts a sharp glance upon the two, asking if she has heard correctly. Spitting venom, she launches into a lengthy derogation of Koltho Valgari, who told her that he lives with his father in Sewertown, originally gave his name as Koltho of Meldath, and who has been putting on airs and endeavoring to court her in spite of his significantly younger years. Inveighing bitterly against a man she views as a transparent, swindling rake, she is sympathetic when Imarë tells a tale regarding the clockwork mechanisms, opining that Koltho has likely stolen whatever goods he is hoping to sell. She states that Koltho had been pestering her back in the spring, went unaccountably absent for about nine months, and then had reappeared about a month ago. Warming to the two, Klarina waxes enthusiastic at the prospect of allies in her battle against the presumptuous Koltho, and indicates that she has been on the verge of getting her uncle Parqu involved in silencing the villain, although she would prefer to avoid this and offers the hoop earrings gratis should Imarë and Sir Ewen manage to rid her of the troublesome swain. Imarë smiles faintly at this incentive, but they assure Klarina that they are at her service, having a common cause amongst them. Damning Koltho to the fiery pit of Agrik, and invoking Halea to turn her back upon him in his falsity, Klarina readily agrees to discretion regarding their visit, and shows them to the door.

Meantime Karl ventures back into the brothel, speaking earnestly to Derine of his passion for rat-catching and his partiality for the new girl in the establishment, Elsa. Derine confirms that the girl has turned out to be quite athletic, and encourages Karl to sample her unaccountable ability to perform a ‘back flip’ whilst in the midst of coitus. On a more mundane level, she suggests that Karl might celebrate his day of successful rodent cadging by joining a high-stakes card game going on in the back room, to which Karl gamely accedes. Entering the game by kicking in the minimum one-shilling stake, Karl sits down across the table from an arrogant red-haired young man with cold gray eyes, nicely-cut clothing and a dangerous-looking axe, who seizes upon Karl as “new blood” and wins all but one of their four hands, taking Karl’s stake along with the rest of the proceeds. The red-head, who perhaps won based upon a talent for bluffing well, gives Karl the opportunity to cut the deck, double or nothing, to win back his shilling. Losing the cut, Karl shrugs and admits that he must opt out at this point, being down a full two shillings, while the red-head laughs and tells him in consolation that he can have any girl in the house for free, and that he is to tell Derine that Koltho said so. Karl, rueful at his loss, finds the madam and relates his tale, which evokes a furious oath from Derine regarding “that bastard son of mine.” Karl asks for Elsa’s services while Derine stalks into the back room and argues with Koltho, who presently storms out of the establishment in a fury.

Up in a private room with Karl, the girl Elsa confides that Koltho is an unimaginative brute who samples all of the new girls at the establishment and is loathed by everyone. Elsa’s conversation with a few of the older girls indicates that Koltho had been absent for a time, but had returned about a month ago to the brothel where his mother grudgingly tolerates his presence.

Back at Palliser House, Sir Baris relates his encounter with Koltho to the assembled group. Sir Ewen, preparing for a dinner date with Rahel later that night at her home, listens to the knight’s description of Koltho Valgari, and frowns at the mention of gray eyes; his brother Stavron’s eyes are brown, he states firmly. The group discuss the implications of this, and agree that a visual double-check by Sir Ewen would be helpful before Koltho is definitively ruled out as being Stavron of Soursi. The harper departs for his evening with Rahel of Aerth, and is again quite late in returning the next morning.

Ilvin 12, 730 TR

Sir Ewen visits Derine’s around mid-morning and arranges to play “The Midget and the Elf” that evening for the enthusiastic madam, who has heard tell of the ditty around town and wishes it to grace her own bawdy common room. This business attended to, the group reconvenes at Palliser House and discusses the plans for the abduction of Koltho in the interest of extracting from him information leading to Sir Peten Valgari, and they determine to take action tonight should circumstances prove propitious. Therefore, later in the afternoon, they each make their separate ways to Derine’s brothel, filtering into the bustling common room in turn and mixing in with the numerous denizens of Golotha seeking warmth and entertainment there on this cold winter’s night. Karl, ostensibly down on his luck, nurses a meager ale at the bar, wearing his leathers under a heavy mantle and scanning the crowd with assumed, amiable simplicity. He makes mental note of where Bevan, Dascomb, and Imarë are each situated, similarly concealing their arms under cold-weather cloaks which blend acceptably with the other patrons in the room. Eventually, at the appointed time, the harper arrives at the door with his lute and proceeds to a small, cleared area in a corner of the common room where he is to perform, wending his way through the hectic crowd. Karl glances over at one point and sees Ewen calmly tuning up, the lute held to his ear against the boisterous noise while his blue eyes drift idly across the faces in the room.

Moments later, as Sir Ewen begins strumming the opening chords of his up-tempo little tune, the noise level in the room drops a notch as some of the patrons attend to this new curiosity in their midst. The harper launches into the first verse flat, however, and Karl covertly tracks Sir Ewen’s gaze to where it lingers for a brief second upon his red-haired card-game partner from yesterday. Koltho is working his way through the room to join a group of raucous patrons who are already beginning to groan and laugh as the harper misses a beat going into the second verse of the song. Sweeping his eyes across the crowd to where Karl sits amongst a half-dozen drunks at the bar, the harper shakes his head in apparent irritation at his own playing, but Sir Baris registers the meaning of the brief gesture: not Stavron. Shouts of derision begin to arise across the common room as Ewen of Ravinargh throws his head back now, caterwauling an outrageously sour rendition of the song’s lines as he thrashes savagely at the lute, turning the performance into a mounting travesty with each increasingly mangled verse. Karl watches incredulously as the harper begins to dodge pelting fruit and ordure from the increasingly ugly crowd while Koltho of Valgari presses to the forefront of the audience, shouting derision and snatching up food as well to fling from the nearby tables, leading the crowd in its loud condemnation of the execrable performance. By the final verse it is impossible to tell whether Ewen is actually singing or laughing hysterically, doubled over his lute against the rain of projectiles and vilification, and he finishes the song with an absurd flourish, sweeping a low derisive bow to the room before he hastily abandons his stage, retreating through the crowd with his maligned lute in tow, eyes bright, breathless.

Derine can be seen shaking her head and scowling from across the room as the patrons simmer down a bit and return to their interrupted pursuits, and the harper tosses back a drink at the bar and wanders aimlessly through the common room, quickly forgotten in the wake of his horrendous performance. After a time, Karl sees Koltho head upstairs with one of the working girls, and Sir Ewen briefly lingers near a table at the periphery, speaking a casual word to Bevan, Imarë and Dascomb where they have temporarily converged, before the four drift apart again, attending to the wagering going on in groups around them. As the minutes pass, one by one the party members drift out into the frigid night, leaving Karl still nursing his ale within the brothel, casting a considering eye upon the stairs from time to time.

Outside in the narrow street, the other four hold a quick conference regarding where they might post themselves to capture Koltho. Sir Ewen chooses to head southward toward the corner of the building at the intersection with another narrow street running east to west, and Bevan joins him there while Imarë and Dascomb depart in the opposite direction, stationing themselves at the northeast corner of the long building. Inside, Karl pays his modest tab and bundles his mantle about him as Koltho emerges flushed from upstairs and heads swiftly for the exit. The red-head emerges outside into the narrow road and turns south, hunching against the cold as his breath clouds before him in the crisp night air. Boots crunching on the rutted, packed dirt of the side street, the red-head draws abreast of the intersection as Sir Ewen steps abruptly out of the shadows, the flat of his broadsword blade describing a swift, cruel arc, catching the unsuspecting Koltho with a sickening crunch across the temple as the red-head crumples to the ground. As Karl emerges hurrying from the gloom to the north, Imarë and Dascomb hard upon his heels, Bevan and the harper crouch over the dead form of Koltho Valgari, skull staved in by Sir Ewen’s blow. Bevan curses under her breath as they rifle quickly through the dead man’s person, collecting nothing more than a small purse, a dagger and a hand axe. Then the five disperse into the night, leaving the body on the ground, and make their separate circuitous ways back to Palliser House, facing the prospect in the morning of revising their carefully laid plans in order to catch the far more dangerous Sir Peten Valgari.